• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

When Will Joker Sneak Into Smash?

Joker_Ultimate_Sneak.jpg

It's been nearly four months since Joker was announced to join the battle in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's first Challenger Pack. The announcement was something no one saw coming. We saw, once again, that the mind of Nintendo was too fast for eyes.


Anticipation ran hot. Piranha Plant was released at the very end of January, and yet the question lingered: When's Joker?


It seemed Joker entered development sometime after his announcement, so it’s understandable that he was going to take some time. Yet some grew antsy. The announcement of a Nintendo Direct in February was sure to bring us our first glimpse of him in action, right?


dfr32b7dteg21.jpg

Well, we were right. We got a glimpse. And not much else.



However, we were given a timeframe: before the end of April. While some thought he would drop before then, that wasn't the case. Joker is still MIA. So logically, he'll be releasing this coming month... But when exactly will he show up?


The obvious answer is "When he's ready". But where's the fun in that? This community thrives off of needless speculation! Not to mention, the month of April holds a surprisingly strong connection to Persona 5, so there are a number of days his release could be associated with. Let's take a look at all of them.


April 1st

Arsene.jpg


While this likely isn't going to be the case considering we're only a day away from the date in question at the time of this article being published, it certainly wouldn't be too much of a surprise. It's the beginning of the month, but more importantly, it's April Fools. I mean, his code name is Joker. Even his primary Persona, Arsene, just so happens to fall under the "Fool" Arcana. It wouldn't even be the first time Smash has been associated with the holiday: Both Mewtwo and Lucas were shown as the first DLC for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS on April 1st, 2015.


However, with no announcement of any form of a direct, I can't say it will be all that likely. While it's true that Piranha Plant dropped out of nowhere with almost no fanfare, we had seen gameplay of him in his reveal trailer. I can't see them releasing Joker without anything to hype him up first. So while possible, I wouldn't get your hopes up for a release. A trailer could be in the cards, though, especially with the recent leak of his render.


April 4th

830180.png


April 4th is the day Persona 5 was given a worldwide release. I don't find this particularly likely since the game's Japanese release was the September prior, but it's still a noteworthy day that could hold significance. Stranger things have happened!

April 9th

D27X1KSW0AIqb4X.png


Another date that has potential. The date holds significance in Persona 5 itself, as it is the day the player character (Joker) moves in with Sojiro, I.E. the first official day of the in-game calendar. It would be almost poetic to release him here, given how far he's come since being branded a delinquent.


April 24th - 25th

P5-Super-Live-2019_12-30-18.jpg


This is what many see as the most likely time frame for Joker's release. On these two days, Persona Super Live (Or Persona Super Live P-Sound Street 2019) will be held. This is a concert in which a variety of music from the Persona series will be played, but more importantly, the concert is when Atlus will go into more detail about Persona 5: The Royal, a recently-teased game. It's the ripe time for any kind of Persona related hype, and nothing has the potential to get a crowd excited quite like Super Smash Bros.


Persona-5-The-Royal-femc.jpg


That's not all. While this falls more into speculation than anything, data-mining suggests that Joker may have an alternate costume involving a ponytail hairstyle, with the codename "Jane" instead of "Jack", the latter of which is believed to be Joker's codename in Smash's file structure. The consensus seems to be that this could be a female version of Joker, or could something to do with the new character teased in Persona 5: The Royal's reveal trailer. who, funnily enough, has a pony tail. This wouldn't be the first time a Persona protagonist was given a female counterpart, as Persona 3 Portable also gave the player a choice between a male and female. If Joker does have a female alternate costume, it would be pretty strange to release him/her without any proper context.


Of course, there's no real way to know for sure. There's a lot we don't know about Joker's Smash incarnation, and for all we know, a Smash Direct could be announced within the month that will give us more insight into Joker and the game's 3.0 update. Still, speculation can be a fun way to help ease the wait, especially since the remaining 4 DLC fighters remain even more elusive. We're in the final stretch, folks. The Calling Card will arrive any moment.


Author's Note: I'm on the final stretch of Persona 5's story, and am beyond excited for Joker to join the roster. When do you think Joker will come out of the shadows? What will he play like? Do you believe in the rumored "Jane"? Let us know in the comments!
 
Last edited:
Kyle "Fenriraga" Hurley

Comments

Joker will come when he feels like coming in.

On a serious note, the recent Best Buy leak seems to suggest an announcement is coming very soon, at the very least. However, the factor that throws things off for me is as you noted, the datamine and mystery of "Jane" and how supposedly she ties into Joker and Smash Bros. So far, P5R has only been announced for PS4.

If "Jane" indeed makes an appearance in some shape or form in Smash, would Nintendo wait for Atlus to formally announce her on the 24th before proceeding with officially revealing Smash gameplay footage? Or will Atlus allow Nintendo to formally show footage of "Jane" before Atlus can officially unveil how she ties into P5R? There are many questions that are raised, especially if one tries to figure out how "Jane" ties into this mystery.

Of course, there is a possibility that "Jane" is a dummy file and has no bearing on P5R, but with "Jane" noted to have a ponytail, and the mystery character in P5R also having a ponytail, there appears to be a strong suggestion that "Jane" is the mystery character.

To say the least, I don't know when Joker will come. The events that have played out the past few weeks have not helped in determining when in April Joker will arrive. Best Buy getting their hands on a Joker render suggests Nintendo is preparing or has readied an official gameplay reveal for Joker, but the "Jane" factor remains in play, since we don't know the supposed connection "Jane" has with Joker in this game.
 
Last edited:
Joker will come when he feels like coming in.

On a serious note, the recent Best Buy leak seems to suggest an announcement is coming very soon, at the very least. However, the factor that throws things off for me is as you noted, the datamine and mystery of "Jane" and how supposedly she ties into Joker and Smash Bros. So far, P5R has only been announced for PS4.

If "Jane" indeed makes an appearance in some shape or form in Smash, would Nintendo wait for Atlus to formally announce her on the 24th before proceeding with officially revealing Smash gameplay footage? Or will Atlus allow Nintendo to formally show footage of "Jane" before Atlus can officially unveil how she ties into P5R? There are many questions that are raised, especially if one tries to figure out how "Jane" ties into this mystery.

Of course, there is a possibility that "Jane" is a dummy file and has no bearing on P5R, but with "Jane" noted to have a ponytail, and the mystery character in P5R also having a ponytail, there appears to be a strong suggestion that "Jane" is the mystery character.

To say the least, I don't know. Best Buy getting their hands on a Joker render suggests Nintendo is preparing or has readied an official gameplay reveal for Joker, but the "Jane" factor remains in play, since we don't know the supposed connection "Jane" has with Joker in this game.
Knowing him, he has a deadline. And being the efficient leader he is, he'll be spending the entirety of it renting movies, going to the batting cages, hanging with his friends and doing everything but actual progress until the final week or so.

But yeah. Jane is absolutely the oddball in the equation, especially since we can't even say with certainty if it's true, or anything beyond a dummy file. Hopefully we'll know sooner rather than later!
 
Last edited:
Knowing him, he has a deadline. And being the efficient leader he is, he'll be spending the entirety of it renting movies, going to the batting cages, hanging with his friends and doing everything but actual progress until the final week or so.

But yeah. Jane is absolutely the oddball in the equation, especially since we can't even say with certainty if it's true, or anything beyond a dummy file. Hopefully we'll know sooner rather than later!
If you were to ask me before the Best Buy leak came out, I would have put something down for the 24th-25th given the "Jane" mystery. But with Best Buy somehow getting their hands on Joker's render, it appears something might land pretty soon before then. Whether that means a Smash-oriented direct, shadow drop like with the Plant, or a general Nintendo direct does not seem to be clear at this time.

Though I wouldn't imagine Sakurai and co. shadow-dropping Joker into the game, especially with Version 3.0 coming up.
 
Joker's enough of a persona veteran that he takes his time - infiltrating the palace start to finish on the final day with grace and style.
 
Kinda frustrating that Joker is being held back by Jane, all I want is to play my favorite character. I didn’t really want Jane in the first place, and a lot of other people probably feel the same way. But whatever.

My guess is the last couple of days of April, because I don’t think they would release the update right after the Direct (if there is one).
 
I imagine that whenever it happens, we'll have at least a full day's official notice from Nintendo so that people can convert their replays.
 
I wish that they would replace Joker with Professor Hector and his echo Professor Vector.
 
I have a source that told me joker would release on April 1st 2020. All jokes aside though (no pun intended), as the 2.02 update is coming the 3.0 update is probably gonna take a bit longer to come out obviously under the assumption that joker will release in the 3.0 update
 
I have a source that told me joker would release on April 1st 2020. All jokes aside though (no pun intended), as the 2.02 update is coming the 3.0 update is probably gonna take a bit longer to come out obviously under the assumption that joker will release in the 3.0 update
Or they release him tonight and make the 3.0 update later, so we don’t have to wait too much. It’s just my speculation, but I hope it will happen.
 
I want it to be the 9th, because it would be an awesome reference to the game, but it will be the 24-25. It would be hilarious though if the direct was April 9th. And that’s when we see joker gameplay
 
It won't be until after all these Nintendo casual tournaments come to a close. I dunno about the others but the UK one finishes on the 20th.
April 9th...

Yes, this is 100% confirmed fact.

Because that's my Birthday...
This would be perfect as it applies to me too, a B-day pressie from Nintendo would be great!!!!!
 
Honestly for my birthday (November 15) Nintendo drops a Pokémon game and I couldn’t be more happy!
This is give or take a few days but you get the point lol.
 
Top Bottom